Senate Dems: Make MU Flexible

Thirty-seven Democratic members of the U.S. Senate have sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for changes in the proposed meaningful use rule.

In particular, the senators ask that HHS move from its "all or nothing" approach and give some flexibility to meeting meaningful use criteria. They also suggest changes to the definition of "hospital-based physician" to enable more to qualify for incentive payments. Further, they urge HHS to fix unintended consequences of using Medicare provider numbers to identify hospitals receiving incentive payments. What follows is full text of the letter, sent on March 30: